World Economic Forum salutes tech pioneers

The World Economic Forum--an annual conference that brings together world leaders to discuss important issues and, according to past attendees, drink late into the night-- unfurled a list of 36 start-ups that it says are tech visionaries. (To attend the Davos, Switzerland gatherings, winners will have to cough up $15,000.)

Many have been profiled on News.com before. One, the two-person Ecology Coatings has developed waterproof paper and fast-drying paint that requires fewer toxic chemicals. Matrix Semiconductor, recently acquired by , designs 3D semiconductors. Another, Amyris, founded by Lawrence Livermore Labs scientist Jay Keasling, has created a way to artificially produce a naturally occurring antimalarial drug.